There was a time when you went outside
to get “a breath of fresh air.” Yet, the city of Richmond has earned a
reputation that makes that act an impossibility.
In a recent story
broadcast by Charles Fishburne we got a taste of an Environment Virginia study
that called the air quality of the city into question. Ms. Corrie (of
Environment Virginia) stated that Richmond is the 17th smoggiest
metro area in the entire country. For a city of Richmond’s size that seems like
a pretty terrible record to have. Anyone that lives here can tell you there are
days it’s not safe to breathe outside.
On the other side of
this issue we have VA Rep. Eric Cantor who is leading congress to study how the
EPA is affecting prices, jobs and reliability of electric power. In other words
how loosening those regulations would allegedly produce more jobs, drive prices
down, and make electric power more reliable.
So I guess our choices
are breathing or jobs?
Here are two things.
First, why does the city of Richmond have to care how the EPA regulations fall?
If there is a problem with the air quality in this city, then the city should
be already taking steps to improve the smog situation and work at a solution.
Not wait for the EPA regulations to force or allow them to do something. I’m
fairly sure the Federal Government wouldn’t try to stop us from cleaning up the
city.
Second, am I the only
one that gets tired of the same old rag in congress where everything is a
choice between the environment and jobs? It’s like a ghost story they tell us
to insure that the right people continue making the most money possible. As
long as congress keeps threatening job loss the voters seem like they are
always going to back them up. But is it really possible to be this consistently
cut and dry? Is there no way possible to breath clean air, fish in clear
streams, and swim in clear beaches without being jobless and have no
electricity? There have got to be better solutions out there.
In the wake of the
economy’s record these past few years the threat of jobs and price hikes might
have become a dog without teeth. How many of us have learned to live with much
less? How many are surviving on one income when we believed it wasn’t possible?
People already don’t have jobs, and are dealing with higher prices of gas and
food. So how much more could that possibly change? Do we really have to still
live in fear of the “Boogey Man” that our congressional leaders keep trotting
out?
You know what my family
and I have been doing? Going outside more. City parks are free, and a great
place to entertain ourselves, meet friends and have picnics as inexpensive
alternatives to going out to eat. In all honesty, being able to breath saves us
money!
I challenge the people
of this city to do two things. Seventh District Representative Eric Cantor
needs to be told that we feel the EPA regulations are there for a reason, and
to stop using the environment as a scapegoat that only serves to tell us
Capitol Hill is fresh out of ideas. Secondly, the citizens of Richmond need to
make our city accountable to us, and not to the EPA. There are hundreds of
things the city could do to make the air quality breathable again. Just a few
ideas: more intentional greenspaces to freshen the air in key areas, directing
the flow of large truck traffic around residential areas, zoning the city to
decrease the need for citizens to drive as much making work, play and shopping
closely available.
This city was once
envied because of its innovation in creating an electric trolley system. That
spirit of ingenuity and forward thinking cannot be allowed to wane! Creating a
new fleet of mass transit vehicles or even something as simple as walking and
biking paths in already established neighborhoods could be a statement made not
only to the citizens of this city but to the state and again the country.
Richmond is a great
city, with the potential to be even greater. It has some incredible parks,
which sadly are going to become vacant if we and our children get asthma from
the air we live in. This is our city, and regardless of what the EPA does or
doesn’t do, we need to act in a way that makes this city a place of health for
ourselves and for every generation that comes after us.
